NEW DELHI: The Income Tax department’s ‘survey’ at the BBC offices on KG Marg in central Delhi and Mumbai’s Santacruz are still on.
I-T sleuths arrived at the office on Tuesday around 11am, to obtain financial data related to tax matters and other business transactions. The operation has now continued for nearly 48 hours.
The survey is being carried out to investigate issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies, officials have said.
The survey teams are seeking answers on financial transactions, the company structure and other details about the news company, and are copying data from electronic gadgets as part of their task of collecting the evidence, tax officials had said.
The broadcaster has sent emails to its employees asking them to work from home and only those employees who were critical for maintaining broadcasting operations were asked to be present, sources said. Employees were also asked to cooperate with the tax authorities and answer their queries.
Sources in the income tax department reiterated that it was a “survey” operation at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai and not a raid, saying the department was following laid-down rules. “A survey is undertaken only at the business premises while a search operation is conducted at the premises of promoters, senior executives of entities and also at places where evidence can be collected,” the sources pointed out.
The I-T survey comes weeks after a massive controversy over its documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots. The foreign ministry had termed the documentary “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative” and the Centre had asked YouTube and Twitter to block it.
I-T sleuths arrived at the office on Tuesday around 11am, to obtain financial data related to tax matters and other business transactions. The operation has now continued for nearly 48 hours.
The survey is being carried out to investigate issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies, officials have said.
The survey teams are seeking answers on financial transactions, the company structure and other details about the news company, and are copying data from electronic gadgets as part of their task of collecting the evidence, tax officials had said.
The broadcaster has sent emails to its employees asking them to work from home and only those employees who were critical for maintaining broadcasting operations were asked to be present, sources said. Employees were also asked to cooperate with the tax authorities and answer their queries.
Sources in the income tax department reiterated that it was a “survey” operation at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai and not a raid, saying the department was following laid-down rules. “A survey is undertaken only at the business premises while a search operation is conducted at the premises of promoters, senior executives of entities and also at places where evidence can be collected,” the sources pointed out.
The I-T survey comes weeks after a massive controversy over its documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots. The foreign ministry had termed the documentary “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative” and the Centre had asked YouTube and Twitter to block it.
